I hear very good players say things such as "if they act quick it's a bluff" or "if they act quick they have it" but I don't find that those things hold true on an opponent by opponent basis.
I find it's better to really pay attention to their timing on every street and everytime you see their hand you can start to piece together the type of timing that they have with different types of hands.
Timing tells are particularly helpful when used in conjunction with other information such as bet sizing tells.
You may suspect a player is bluffing based on his timing, but if the bet sizing also is different than you've seen from him on previous value bets, that will really scream "bluff" to you.
All of this really goes into what can be called "hand reading" as timing and bet sizing and actions (raise, bet, call, check) are all a part of that bigger picture: narrowing an opponent's hand range down in a correct manner.
Some common general timing tells people like to repeat are:
- Insta betting a river is often a strong hand (can often be a complete bluff as well, imo it only means they were already planning their action ahead of time, which can mean different things for different opponents).
- Insta calling is often a draw from a fish (I see it as weaker pairs a lot of times as well).
- Insta checking is a draw or high card (often you'll see even winning players snap check in limped pots they have no interest in betting on any street, this can mean high card showdown, bottom pair or complete air uninterested in bluffing).
Again, don't follow any timing tell rule 100%. Pay attention and find patterns and exploit those patterns on an opponent by opponent basis.
@ 25 / 50:
If your opponent mixes up limping / minraising with openshoving, and he now tanks a few seconds before limping / minraising - be extremely careful and don't shove light against him !
It's likely that he has a monster and had to think about how to get most value from you.
This is especially true if he usually acts pretty quickly and also shoves very quickly.
I've found this tell very useful recently - many players auto-pilot at these blind levels and even seem to mix up limping/minrasing/shoving on auto-pilot, but when they actually have a strong hand they need to think how to trap you best with it.
It's very opponent dependent in my mind.
I hear very good players say things such as "if they act quick it's a bluff" or "if they act quick they have it" but I don't find that those things hold true on an opponent by opponent basis.
I find it's better to really pay attention to their timing on every street and everytime you see their hand you can start to piece together the type of timing that they have with different types of hands.
Timing tells are particularly helpful when used in conjunction with other information such as bet sizing tells.
You may suspect a player is bluffing based on his timing, but if the bet sizing also is different than you've seen from him on previous value bets, that will really scream "bluff" to you.
All of this really goes into what can be called "hand reading" as timing and bet sizing and actions (raise, bet, call, check) are all a part of that bigger picture: narrowing an opponent's hand range down in a correct manner.
Some common general timing tells people like to repeat are:
- Insta betting a river is often a strong hand (can often be a complete bluff as well, imo it only means they were already planning their action ahead of time, which can mean different things for different opponents).
- Insta calling is often a draw from a fish (I see it as weaker pairs a lot of times as well).
- Insta checking is a draw or high card (often you'll see even winning players snap check in limped pots they have no interest in betting on any street, this can mean high card showdown, bottom pair or complete air uninterested in bluffing).
Again, don't follow any timing tell rule 100%. Pay attention and find patterns and exploit those patterns on an opponent by opponent basis.
@ 25 / 50:
If your opponent mixes up limping / minraising with openshoving, and he now tanks a few seconds before limping / minraising - be extremely careful and don't shove light against him !
It's likely that he has a monster and had to think about how to get most value from you.
This is especially true if he usually acts pretty quickly and also shoves very quickly.
I've found this tell very useful recently - many players auto-pilot at these blind levels and even seem to mix up limping/minrasing/shoving on auto-pilot, but when they actually have a strong hand they need to think how to trap you best with it.